Investigation of the microstructure, mechanical and wear properties of AA6061-T6 friction stir weldments with different particulate reinforcements addition

Welding of heat-treated AA6061-T6 often results in mechanical and wear properties deterioration because of the dissolution of the strengthening precipitates at the joint. Enhancement of these properties has been accomplished for non-heat treatable aluminium alloys through the addition of reinforcement particles in the joint. However, its application to AA6061-T6 is scarce. In this work, the microstructure, hardness and wear resistance of AA6061-T6 friction stir welded joints reinforced with SiC, B 4 C and Al 2 O 3 particles were investigated while the base metal and the unreinforced welded joint were utilised as the control. Aluminium matrix grains refinement which improved with increased particle distribution homogeneity occurred in the entire welded joints. All the reinforced welded joints showed improvements on the unreinforced joint in terms of hardness and wear resistance because of the particles high hardness and substantially increased grain refinement that occurred in the reinforced welded joints. Due to B 4 C extremely high hardness and homogeneous distribution in the joint, B 4 C reinforced joint exhibited the highest improvements in hardness (˜42%) and wear rate (˜67%) at low-load condition. However, at high-load condition, SiC followed by the Al 2 O 3 reinforced joints showed the least wear rate even lower than the base metal. The matrix hardness significantly influenced the wear performance at low-load but the overall effects of the reinforcement particles were predominant at high-load condition. The reinforcements’ additions reduced the wear rate of the welded joint by up to a factor of ˜1.7 and ˜1.9 at low and high load conditions respectively.